I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to manufacturing systems where workpieces are inspected to ensure quality in the manufacturing process. More specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for facilitating the inspection of the facets of a semiconductor workpiece under a microscope.
II. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacture and assembly of semiconductor products, relatively small parts or components are routinely examined to ensure quality in the manufacturing process. In particular, the visual examination of the facets of a laser chip or bar is a necessary step to ensure proper operation of the laser. To this end such semiconductor workpiece facets are inspected under a microscope during the manufacturing process. For proper inspection, the workpiece must stand on a thin edge, a facet, so as to align a facet on the other side of the workpiece to be perpendicular to the downward looking microscope. The act of standing the workpiece on its edge is tedious and time consuming. Current practice is to manually flip a workpiece on edge using a razor blade, a sharp pointed awl, tweezers or a combination of these tools. Some have even placed adhesive tape on the wide side of the workpiece and then attempted to flip the workpiece by gripping the excess tape on both sides of the workpiece. These manual operations typically take an inordinate amount of time and skill. Furthermore, once the workpiece is sitting on its edge, the workpiece may still fall back to its original position. These handling techniques may damage the workpiece. The workpiece may be a chip, a bar, a wafer, etc. This manual perpendicular alignment is performed at an angle and by human eye, thus making the process cumbersome, potentially inaccurate and unrepeatable.
There exists a need for a system that provides precise, repeatable and efficient alignment between a workpiece facet and a microscope to allow for proper inspection of the facet.